The present invention relates in general to an appliance, such as a refrigerator or freezer, and more particularly to an appliance having one or more shelves supported by an interior liner of the appliance.
A typical refrigerator for refrigerating products, such as food and beverages, has an outer shell with a door which is generally hinged to form at least part of a front wall of the refrigerator. When the door is opened, products may be added to or removed from a refrigerated compartment by an individual.
Generally, refrigerators of this type have one or more shelves horizontally and removably secured within the interior of the refrigerated compartment. Oftentimes, the shelves are placed on brackets which are attached to the liner of the refrigerator wall using a variety of conventional methods, such as ledges attached to the liner wall, ladders attached to the wall on which brackets are secured for holding the shelves, and the like.
Different types of shelving are known including a pull-out shelf, a fixed shelf, a shelf which is half the width of the interior of the refrigerator, a full-width or half-width cantilever shelf, and the like. Traditionally, each of the shelves requires a differently configured liner for the refrigerator so that the particular shelves may be used in the refrigerator. This can be quite costly in terms of inventory since for each type of shelf which is sold in a given refrigerator, a distinct refrigerator liner for holding that particular shelf style is required. In addition, if a shelf needs to be replaced in the refrigerator, only the particular shelf which fits on the liner of the refrigerator may be used.